Just A Game
by halcyonwords
Summary: It started off as a game between two strangers, and ended being so much more.


She must be going mad to have agreed to be a part of such a bizarre experiment. Then again, it's not like she hasn't done insane and peculiar things before. She was only _just_ starting to come out of the wild child phase she'd been in for the past four years.

But Kate needed some fun in her life. Needed a distraction from the heartache and grief coursing through her veins. So when she'd seen the advert for the beer pong experiment, she thought; _why not?_ What's the worst that could happen? She could have the time of her life; a day to remember. Or, it could be a terrible disaster. Either way, nothing could be as bad as what she's had to deal with for the past eight months. Plus, there was a cash prize of $200, so at least it'd be worth it.

So, she'd signed up, and now here she was on the opposite side of town walking up the steps of a twenty story building to meet her fate.

If she was being honest, she was filled with excitement and curiosity. She was intrigued by the idea – playing beer pong with a complete stranger while being filmed; with an added _twist_.

It didn't seem harmful. In fact, she'd played against many strangers at parties before. She was curious about the added twist though. She was sure that the filming and two strangers playing against one another wasn't the twist, there had to be more to it than that. Because that would just get boring.

After climbing the steps to floor seventeen, she's almost knackered. It's been awhile since she's gotten some exercise. She's usually a very fit, and active girl. Body slim and toned. But right now she looked more sickening than full of life.

She'd covered up the dark circles under her eyes with concealer, but the thin arms and the sharp cheek bones weren't hard to miss.

When Kate pushes open the door, she's met with a waiting room. The floor is empty, aside from the woman sitting behind the reception desk. She moves towards her direction, waiting a few minutes before the woman on the other side looks up and acknowledges her.

"Hi there, how many I help you?" She sends a pleasant smile in Kate's direction, and although it's a lot of effort for her own lips to curve, Kate does her best as she stuffs her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket.

"Hi, I'm Kate Beckett. Here for – uh, beer pong? Sorry, I forgot what it was called." Her teeth sink into her bottom lip, warmth starting to circulate up the sides of her neck, but the woman merely shrugs and sends her another smile.

"That's okay, sweetie. I'll give you a form to fill out, and then when you're done they'll come call you in. You came at a very good time, we're in need of _one more_ opponent." She hands Kate a clipboard with a form attached to it.

She decides to fill it out at the desk, already eager to get this show on the road.

The form is simple, just a few standard procedures – the main being that she won't be driving herself home, and if she does and gets into an accident; that she can't sue them for her actions. Not like she'd drive under the influence, or out here anyways.

After she's filled out the form she hands it back over and the woman takes it, glancing at it briefly before piling it on top of a few others before pressing a few buttons in front of her.

"Take a seat, Kate. One of our associates will be out soon to come get you."

Kate nods at her before retreating to sit down in one of the seats.

She sucks in a breath, holding it momentarily before letting it out. She glances around the waiting room, posters randomly placed all over the walls, the stacks of magazines in the centre. It's as if she's waiting at a doctor's office, this clean-cut room would've been the last thing she'd expect for somebody advertising game experiments.

It's no more than five minutes later when a guy in his late twenties is coming out of one of the doors on the right and calling out her name.

"Kate?"

Her head snaps up and she blinks a few times before nodding and getting to her feet.

"Yeah, that's me."

"Hey, I'm Davis. Why don't you come on through? We're all ready for you."

She follows him into the room. It's large with white walls, and pretty plain aside from the main gear in the room. The first thing she notices is the table in the centre with plastic red cups filled half way on both sides of the table. There's cameras in front of her, all facing towards the table. And some chairs and small tables aligned on one side with various things lining it.

There's two other people in the room – both men in their mid-twenties.

"Hey, I'm Nate." One of the men introduces himself as he moves towards her holding up a mic. "I'm just gonna attach this to you, alright?"

Kate nods, waiting till Nate's finished wiring her up before she turns to meet who she presumes is her opponent.

He was rugged looking, but had a handsomeness about him that made him look more like a giant soft teddy bear more than anything. Hs hair is brown; looking so soft that she just wants to run her fingers through the strands. His eyes are piercing blue that it's as if she's staring at the middle of the ocean, or a cloudless sky in the middle of Summer. There's crinkles around the edges of his eyes and he's flashing a small smile in her direction as he extends his hand out towards her.

"Hey there, Rick Castle."

The name sounds familiar and it has her brows pulling together as her hand comes to meet his. But the familiarity of his name disappears when their hands collide. Her pulse can't help but pound beneath the cage of her ribs as her chest hitches. Her brows soften and raise slightly as her lips gape. She glances from their hands up to him; and he seems to feel whatever it is that she's feeling – can see that the blue in his eyes isn't so bright, but slowly turning to a darker colour.

"Kate Beckett." She clears her throat, pulling her hand back from his grasp.

"Alright, now that introductions are done. I want you two to stand on the opposite sides. I trust you both know how tp play beer pong?" Davis asks, now standing behind the camera.

Kate and Rick both nod at his question.

"Great. So, standard rules here apply. You chuck a ball and get it in, you drink. You miss, you don't drink. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, the twist that you're all probably _dying_ to know is that under each cup there's a piece of paper. Each is filled with a dare. If you decide you don't want to do the dare, then you drink. If you do the dare, you don't drink and the cup stays in place. Winner wins $200 remember."

Kate's brows arch, lips stretching out to the side.

Dare ping pong – it's not something she'd ever done before. She'd played both separately of course, but not together. She was already pretty intrigued to see where this would go, especially with who she'd be playing against. Her opponent wasn't bad to look at, and she was just feeling good to have her mind be distracted for a while; and hopefully get some good quality beer out of this.

"Alright, let's do this." Rick clasps his hands together, brows waggling at her and she's immediately rolling her eyes at the childlike expression he perceives.

They both go to opposite ends and Davis chucks a ball at Kate that she easily catches.

"Good catch."

"You seem surprised." Her brow arches as she turns from Davis to Rick who merely shrugs at her.

"Alright you two, just act like Nate and I aren't here, 'kay?"

Kate nods back at Davis before she's turning back to face Rick. Her tongue dips from her mouth, running along her bottom lip as she lines up her arm with her line of sight and tosses the ball across the table.

Her teeth sink into her bottom lip, a smile tugging at the edges of her lips when the ball splashes into the beer filled cup. She glances up at Rick who's brows are pulling together, and he groans slightly.

He lifts up the cup and picks up the piece of paper. He reads it before his eyes are widening, head snapping to face Davis behind the camera.

"Whoa, hey, really?"

"Hey, I'm not here, remember dude?" Davis only smirks, chuckling slightly as he focuses back on the camera.

"What does it say?" Kate pipes up, her brow arching as Rick sighs.

"Let the other cut off your shirt."

Kate smirks, her gaze travelling down to the grey t-shirt he's wearing; one that seems to fit him pretty snug, and her teeth can't help but pull her bottom lip into her mouth before she glances back up to meet Rick's gaze.

"Maybe you shouldn't have signed up if you were gonna back out so early, _chicken_." She kinks a brow at him, and something gleams in Rick's eyes.

"Oh, fighting talk, huh?"

She shrugs, the smirk still evident on her lips and Rick huffs before placing the cup and paper down to the side.

"This is my favourite shirt."

"That is _so_ not your favourite shirt. It's plain and boring – you can buy a million more like it." She rolls her eyes, moving towards Davis who's handing her a pair of scissors.

Rick fake gasps, placing a hand against his chest. "I am very offended by your allegations."

She shakes her head, rolling her eyes once mmore at him as she moves to stand in front of Rick, her chest rising as she glances down to his chest once again. She ponders for a moment before she's placing a hand against his chest, her head lifting and gaze coming to meet his as she moves her hand down his chest agonizingly slow.

She sees his adams apple bop, his jaw tightening as her fingertips come to the hem of his shirt.

She glances back down and moves her scissors closer to him.

"Please don't cut me."

It comes out a little shaky and her brow arches as she looks up at him through her lashes.

"I'll try not to." She says before she's using the scissors to cut up the middle of his shirt. Once she's reached the collar it falls open, a slither of his skin being revealed to her and she takes in the toned bits of his chest, and the light array of hair.

He stands still for a moment before he's pulling open his shirt as if it were a jacket and he frowns down.

Kate can't help but swallow as she takes in his bare chest fully. She doesn't linger for long, instead pulls her gaze away and moves back to stand where she was a few minutes ago.

By the time she's turned back, Rick's discarded the cut-up shirt and is standing before her shirtless, the only thing on his chest being the wire Nate attached to him earlier. It's distracting, him being shirtless, and she can barely not stare at his chest every time she looks over at him. He's noticed this of course; there's a smug grin plastered across his face and it has her brows pulling together.

"Alright naked cowboy, toss the ball."

"Well, I'm not _fully_ naked. Unless that's what your intentions are, then you should at least by me dinner first."

She rolls her eyes again and nods towards the ball now in his grip. "Just toss it."

"Well someone's an eager beaver."

He bends down his arm coming to make an L shape before he's moving his arm back and forth before tossing it across the table.

It lands smack down in the middle of the array of drinks and Kate lifts up the cup and takes the piece of paper.

"Lick two mystery items blindfolded." She chews on her bottom lip, foot tapping.

"You're not gonna back out on your first one now, are you… _chicken_." Her words from earlier cause her to squint at the other, though a smirk does play upon her lips.

She has a feeling she'll be squinting or rolling her eyes a lot at Rick during this game.

"Okay, let's get this over with – but I swear, if one of you put your dick near my mouth I'll use those scissors and do what I did to Rick's shirt, to your dick." She shoots them all a look, and the two men behind the camera shift uncomfortably, an awkward chuckle slipping from their lips.

"Uh, don't worry – that won't be happening."

Nate moves around the camera, dragging a chair and blindfold with him that he hands over to Kate.

"Rick, we'll get you to give her the mystery items."

Rick follows Nate over to the table, having him select the options for Kate to lick while Kate sits herself on the chair and puts the blindfold on.

"You ready?" Rick asks once he's selected the two mystery objects, and Kate nods her head.

Rick tilts his head, waving his hand in front of her face and when she does nothing he gives a thumbs up to the camera.

He lifts the lid off, a chuckle slipping from his lips instantly as he stares down at the raw fish head.

"You're laughing, why are you laughing?" Kate's brows pull together as she stares into darkness, her pulse starting to beat slightly.

"No reason, no reason I promise." He snickers.

"Yeah, I don't trust you."

"Alright, it's in front of you." He says moving it in front of her.

Kate reaches out, her hand coming in contact with Rick's skin and her pulse pounds as she quickly moves her hand away from his chest, feeling her way along his arm before her hand comes in contact with the metal tray.

"Oh, god, what is that smell?" Her face scrunches up as the fish smell starts to hit her nostrils, and she's forced to pinch her nose as she breathes out through her mouth. "Oh god, that's raw fish, isn't it? You're going to make me lick raw fish, aren't you?"

"How the hell did you guess that?" Rick looks at her in somewhat shock and Kate's lips curve slightly as she turns her head in what she _hopes_ is Rick's direction.

"Fish have a very distinct smell."

He shrugs, because she's not wrong.

"Come on though, you _have_ to lick it. You've committed to this now."

Kate groans, almost stomping her foot like a child before she's leaning forwards and swiping out her tongue. The slime and scale filled creature comes in contact with her tongue, it leaving a bitter taste in her mouth and she's quickly shoving the tray away Rick's holding, her head shaking back and forth with her tongue hanging out.

"Oh no, oh god no. That's disgusting. I need some water." She rakes her fingers down her tongue, trying to scrub off what she's just had to taste, but it's useless.

Rick laughs, placing the raw fish head down and handing Kate a bottle of water as she nearly downs the whole thing.

"This one better be good." She mumbles, a huff leaving her lips as she screws the cap on her water bottle and lets it drop to the ground as Rick stands in front of her once again and takes the lid off.

A small fur pillow is placed in the middle and Rick smiles down at it before moving it towards Kate.

"Alright, it's ready for you."

"It?! Please tell me it's not alive."

She's really starting to wonder why she agreed to do this and if $200 was really worth it. She doesn't want to lick a live animal! Especially since it's probably the _worst_ part of it.

"Just do it quick okay and you won't hurt it." Rick plays along; playing into Kate's fear of believing it's an animal.

She scrunches her face up again, sucking in a breath before letting it out and moving forwards. Her tongue moves along the fur pillow and her brows pull together.

"It's… furry. What the hell?" She spits, trying to get rid of the fur now attached to her tongue. "What kind of animal is that?" She moves her hands out, sliding her fingers over it before she's taking a hold of it and it dawns on her what it is. "Are you _fucking_ kidding me?" She tears off the blindfold, staring down at the fur pillow in her hand and she looks up at Rick on the verge of hysterics in front of her.

"You're such a shit!" She shoots him a look, poking his chest as he moves backwards, trying to cover his chest as a laugh falls from his lips.

"Hey! It's not my fault you thought it was alive." He shrugs, smirking at her and she shakes her head.

They do a few more tosses, both of them missing a couple times, but also having to do more dares.

Rick ends up having to take a shot of hot sauce and almost ends up in tears – which has Kate in tears from laughing so hard, he also had to call an ex and tell her he still loves them; he calls some woman named Meredith, and it was awkward for a few minutes after the phone call. He'd put her on speaker and after her confession Meredith had sighed and told him to move on, as she herself had.

Kate on the other hand, didn't have to do such a thing; which she was glad of. Instead Kate had the option of letting Rick pie her in the face, or drink the beer the ball had landed in; she'd chosen to drink the beer. Which Rick had pouted and said she was ruining the fun by not letting him pie her. She'd simply rolled her eyes at him and shrugged. No way was she getting pied.

Rick tosses the ball, it landing in one of the cups and he grins.

"Yes!"

Kate pulls out the piece of paper, chuckling as she reads it. "Talk dirty to your opponent for thirty seconds." She looks over at Rick, arching her brow as he stares over at her with raised brows.

"Why not." She shrugs, placing the paper down as she comes around to stand in the middle.

"Really?"

"Think you can handle that, big boy?" She kinks her brow at him and he swallows as he comes to stand in front of her.

"Oh, you betcha, big girl." He pauses, eyes immediately widening as he stutters. "I-I mean, that's not what I meant. I just –"

Kate laughs shaking her head at him. "It's fine, I know what you meant. But, maybe _next time_ don't call a girl _big_ when she's about to talk dirty to you?"

He nods, stuck on the words _next time_. Even though she most likely means with someone else and not her.

"Alright, you ready?" Kate asks, and Rick nods a little too eagerly.

Kate sucks in a breath, tongue coming out to run along her bottom lip as she moves forwards, her fingertip coming to rest against Rick's bare chest as she slowly moves it down the middle and looks up at him through her lashes.

"It's going to get hot, really fast. My body on top of yours. You don't like it gentle, and neither do I." Her head tilts, her teeth sliding through her bottom lip as her finger drags down his chest as Rick swallows.

"You uh, you have a boyfriend?" He breathes out and Kate smirks, gaze dropping to his chest as her hands move to sprawl against it.

"I do."

He feels disappointed, something crushing inside of him and he frowns down at her.

"But he doesn't have to know." She looks back up at Rick again, and he's almost forgotten that there's cameras facing him and that she's doing this as a _dare_. "He's away, so we can be as loud as we want. I get loud, you like It when I'm loud – when I'm screaming your name." She shifts upwards, standing on the tips of her toes as her lips move to Rick's ear, her hands sprawled at the sides of his chest. "You like it when I'm loud, don't you? When I do that trick I do with ice. It makes you all… cool." She breathes out against his ear and he shudders, his eyes falling closed as his fingers curl into the palms of his hands, creating tight fists at his sides.

"Maybe I'll even it out, use the candle wax to warm you." She pops the last P and Rick swallows, it taking everything in him to not just grab her and push her up against the table and have his wicked way with her. _Do_ all the things she's whispering into his ear.

"You like it when I torture you a little, don't you?" She's still talking into his ear, one hand moving up the side of his chest before she's doing what she first thought of when she first saw him; running her fingers through those soft brown locks. "You like when I mark you – so people know you _belong_ to someone."

He can barely even think straight, and his hands shift to land on her hips, but one of the men on the other side of the camera is calling out that it's been thirty minutes, and Kate's moving away from him.

"Need some air, huh?" Kate teases, smirking up at him as Rick's eyes open and all he can do is breathe out, because _holy shit_ is this girl something else.

"I'm – I'm good." It comes out a little huskier than he anticipated, and something in Kate's eyes shift.

She moves away from him slowly and when she turns around he breathes in again, glancing up at the ceiling before moving back to his own side as Kate tosses the ball across, _missing_.

"So, what's your boyfriends name?" He tries to be nonchalant about it as he tosses the ball across, it landing in one of her cups.

"Rogan." She lifts the cup up to take the piece of paper.

Truth be told, her and Rogan weren't doing the greatest. She was becoming disinterested in him, and she was positive he was getting fed up of how down she'd been for the last eight months. They'd fought so many times over the subject that she's lost count, and she knew the next time she saw him; it'd probably be the _last_ time she ever saw him.

"Rogan, that's interesting." Rick nods and Kate blinks, snapping herself out of her thoughts to read out the dare.

"Let the other opponent undress you." She snorts slightly, already moving the cup towards her to drink, but Rick's quick to stop her by speaking.

"Hey, hey, hey. You cut up my shirt and made me shirtless. And after what _you_ just did, I think it's only fair I get to undress you."

She grunts, contemplating just chugging the beer, but decides against it as she puts it down and moves around the table.

"Wait, really?" He seems shocked she gave in so quickly and Kate sighs, shrugging her shoulders as her arms lift above her.

"Come on, cowboy. Let's get this over with."

He swallows hard, it taking him a few seconds to move to stand in front of her.

"Well, Rogan. Your girlfriend has gotten me shirtless and talked dirty to me and is _now_ letting me undress her." Rick speaks to the camera and Kate can't help but shake her head at him, a small laugh eliciting from her lips.

She's not sure _where_ this video is going to go, but either way she doubts Rogan would ever see it. And even if he did, by the time he does; they'll be ancient history.

Rick removes her leather jacket, it falling to the ground before he's carefully taking off her tank top and he takes in the sight of her standing before him in her bra and jeans.

She's really the most beautiful girl he's ever seen, and he's seen _a lot_ of woman, been with a lot too. But none of them seem to compare to Kate Beckett.

He could admire her, really _worship_ her for hours. And God, it's so unfair that she has a boyfriend. He thinks to himself as he steps closer, towering over her as he pops open the button of her jeans before slowly dropping to his knees and pulling her pants down with him.

He pulls off her boots with ease before sliding off her socks and watching as she steps out of her jeans, tossing them to the side and left standing there in a matching black bra set. Though Rick almost loses it when he realises her choice of underwear is close to a thong than an actual pair of underwear.

"Geez, it's like you're trying to kill me." He didn't mean to say it out loud as he stares up at her and Kate smirks at him, roseate coming to wash across Rick's cheeks.

"Didn't plan on someone undressing me today." She chuckles slightly, spinning around and moving back to her side of the table as she gives him a _great_ view of her ass, and he swears he sees an extra swing in her hips as she moves.

He really needs some fresh air, or cold water – or just a cold shower. He thinks as he gets to his feet and moves back to the opposite side.

There's no way he's going to be able to focus now after she just talked about all the things she wants to do to him; especially now that she's standing before him in barely nothing.

She's beautiful, and as she stands on the opposite side his brows pull together as he really takes her in. Up close she seemed all long and leggy, and she still does. But she looks more stick thin than anything, like she's barely been eating – almost sick. And something inside of him has him worrying for her, has him curious about what's going on in her life that'd cause her to get this way.

Kate hits him in the chest, more to get his attention than anything and he jumps slightly as he blinks a few times.

"You can daydream later, let's move this along so I can win already."

Oh, he will daydream later. Very much so. He doubts he'll ever be able to daydream about any other girl ever again.

"Pretty confident you're gonna win, huh?" He asks, tossing the ball across as it misses and he grunts, brows pulling together.

"Oh yes." She smirks at him, grabbing the ball before tossing it across and it landing in the middle of one of his cups.

They go back and forth a few more times before they're both down to one last cup each.

"You ready to lose, huh?" Rick tilts his head, a smirk starting to sprawl across his face and Kate leans back on her left foot, hands coming to rest against his hips.

She squints, watching as the ball moves through the air before it's landing in her cup. She groans as Rick practically jumps into the air.

"Yes, yes, yes!" He grins, punching his arms into the air.

"Rick won." One of the guys behind the camera call out and Kate leans her head back groaning.

"Not all big talk now huh?" He smirks, watching Kate come around towards him.

"Not a sore loser." She shrugs, though that's _definitely_ a lie. She sticks out her hand towards him. "Good game, cowboy." She smirks at him and he can't help but grin as he takes her hand.

"It was a pleasure." He pretty much bows before bringing her hand to his lips and pressing them atop of her palm. She swallows at this, watching him carefully.

She retracts her hand and turns away from him to go put her clothes on.

It's then he realises it's all over, and after the time he's spent having fun with Kate; he doesn't want it to end, or at least doesn't want to never see her again. He wants to know her; know everything about her really. Like why she looked so stick thin, and why she decided to partake in this experiment. Was it for the money? Was she lacking money? Or did she just enjoy social experiments?

"Dude, come collect your winnings." Davis calls out, his arm raising to Rick who turns away from Kate and his thought to nod at him.

"Just a minute." He swallows, his palms becoming sweaty, and he's not sure why he's nervous right now when he had to undress her not that long ago.

"Hey, Kate."

He comes up behind her, just as she's finished putting her jeans on, and she glances over her shoulder at him, her brow arching as she starts slipping on her tank top.

"You uh… want to go grab a drink with me? My shout of course." He rubs the back of his head and Kate drops her gaze, her brows pulling together.

"I, uh…"

"Just one drink? As friends, of course. But I had fun today, and I kinda don't want it to end just yet."

She hadn't expected the invitation from him, really only meant to play a game with a stranger to distract herself and put some fun and energy back into her life – which she had done. She didn't think about not seeing him again, was too invested in the game.

But she'll admit to herself she's a little sad that it's over – she was having fun with Rick. He was easy to be around; good company, made her forget about everything going on in her life. One drink couldn't hurt, especially since right now in her life; she needed somebody that made things more lighter and fun, and Rick seemed like that type of somebody.

She surprises herself, and him.

"One drink."

The edges of Rick's lips curl upwards as he looks down at her. "Really?"

She nods, her lips twitching slightly. It's been awhile since she's laughed as hard as she did today, or smiled as genuinely as she did – and it's all down to Rick.

"Really."

"Okay… uh, you ever heard of the Old Haunt? It's only a few blocks away."

"I haven't, but there's a first for everything."

He can't help but grin even more at her.

"Are you… do you have a spare shirt?" His face drops, gaze glancing down to his chest.

"Oh." He mumbles. "Uh – maybe I could meet you there in twenty or so minutes? So I can zip home and get a new shirt." He laughs slightly and Kate nods at him as she removes the wire attached to her body.

"Twenty minutes at the Old Haunt."

"It's a date! Well, friend date I mean."

Her brow arches at him as she almost snorts. "Friend date?"

"Uh, yeah. Friends can have dates all the time. Get with it, Kate." He shakes his head and she can't help but smirk and roll her eyes at him.

"Go collect your winnings so we have something to drink with, and don't leave me waiting any longer than twenty minutes." She smirks at him, grabbing her leather jacket before passing by him.

* * *

 **A/N: Inspired by the WatchCut Videos 'Strangers Play Fear pong.'**


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